This disclosure is directed to a backpack for use by a diver. The backpack is sized so that it fits on the back of an average sized adult. It is supported at a convenient location. It provides assistance to the diver in several ways. First, it is equipped with a battery which is electrically charged on the shore. The backpack includes two tanks in it. One is reserved for oxygen. It can be precharged on shore. It can be charged with pure oxygen or with air from the atmosphere to provide an initial charge of oxygen. The backpack thus provides a charged cylinder filled with air or oxygen which enables the user to stay under water for a specified interval. When that tank runs low, the system then notes the drop in tank pressure, and at that time switches on a battery. The battery in conjunction with two electrodes deployed at spaced locations in a chamber then receives water and converts that water into oxygen and hydrogen. The two electrodes are spaced apart. They are located at a spacing prompting the bubbles to rise in the chamber. The bubbles formed by the disassociation of water into the two component gases are segregated by appropriate electrode spacing in the chamber. This enables the oxygen to be collected, compressed and stored to the tank for the diver. This will extend the duration of use.
Interestingly, the hydrogen which is formed by the disassociation can be used in any one of three different ways. Among other things, it can be used to power a motor, or it can be used as an expansion chamber fluid. By inflating an expansion chamber, thereby making the backpack larger, buoyancy is changed. The buoyancy prompts a force floating the diver because the change in the buoyancy of the backpack will then help bring the diver back to the surface. Accordingly, the hydrogen created by the disassociation will later, nevertheless, have value. The value of the hydrogen is therefore appropriately noted and is used in any of the several ways just mentioned.
To put a scale on this structure, assume that the system incorporates an oxygen tank which holds an adequate supply. By positioning a battery in the backpack and using the battery for water disassociation into oxygen, the same tank can be steadily recharged while the diver is consuming the gas of the original charge. Commonly, the equipment would have to be retrieved to the surface after a typical one hour interval. Through the use of the disclosed system, a continuous recharge can be initiated. The swimming interval can be extended to the extent that the charge in the battery permits.
In one important aspect, the present apparatus is a completely self contained mobile device which does not impede or otherwise slow down the diver. It is a system which is relatively compact. While compact, it can be constructed readily for easy mounting on the back so that the swimmer is not aware that it is present. Yet, while small and compact, it can carry a charge which is able to sustain the swimmer for a much longer interval. To be sure, heavy wall, high pressure gas cylinders can be used to extend the swimming duration. These heavy cylinders may seem easy to handle under water. They are, however, often made of very thick walls to define a relatively heavy structure. In this instance, a lighter gauge storage tank can be used. While lighter in wall thickness and lighter in total weight, a longer duration is obtained through the use of the battery powered system which furnishes a discharge of oxygen so that a small tank or a large tank at a lower pressure, hence a lighter weight tank, can be progressively refilled during use. Since refilling occurs ratably, the system of the present disclosure need not operate at high speed. Rather, it can generate enough oxygen to make up for oxygen consumption at a controlled rate, a rate typically in the range of 25% to 60% of the rate at which the swimmer requires oxygen. By using it as a booster to add to an initial charge, smaller equipment can be used. Thinner walls in the equipment can be used so that the aggregate weight in reduced. Finally, it has the value of forming an added byproduct (hydrogen gas) which can be used elsewhere in the system. One use of the generated hydrogen is to power a motor which assists the swimmer by providing a motive force. Another use operate a hydrogen or gas powered motor to sound a motor powered marker such as an alarm marker. Another use is to inflate an expansion chamber so that buoyancy can be increased at the flip of a switch, thereby changing the buoyancy of the diver and quickly returning the diver to the surface.